Zero Branco (Treviso) - In a warehouse on the outskirts of Treviso, the word “sludge” no longer means waste. On 11 September, HBI inaugurated EVA 3, the first fully industrial-scale implementation of its technological platform for the treatment and recovery of sewage sludge: a facility that marks the transition from research to industrial maturity for a technology developed over ten years of work.
Authorized by the Veneto Region under the Consolidated Environmental Act, EVA 3 integrates into a single automated process four stages that, until now, were almost always carried out separately: hydrothermal carbonisation of sludge, gasification of hydrochar, energy recovery from syngas, resource recovery, and treatment of micropollutants. It is this integration – not any single technology – that represents the real breakthrough.
The Model: Urban Circular Biorefinery
“HBI’s vision is to gradually transform wastewater treatment plants into what I call Urban Circular Biorefineries: infrastructure capable of recovering water, energy, and critical raw materials, while reducing waste and the release of contaminants into the environment,” explains Daniele Basso, founder and CEO of HBI, a company that in ten years has grown from a startup to become one of the frontrunners in sludge recovery technologies.
However, as HBI explains, the value goes beyond sludge treatment. For water service providers, it means transforming a cost centre into an opportunity to create value; for local communities, it means making the service more sustainable; and for the country and Europe, it means contributing to new circular supply chains and reducing dependence on imported raw materials.
Phosphorus is of particular importance, as it is a raw material for the fertiliser industry and is included on the European list of critical raw materials. The expansion of these biorefineries can help build a recovered phosphorus supply chain that connects water managers, technology providers, the chemical industry, and fertiliser producers—a prospect consistent with European priorities for supply chain resilience and strategic autonomy. This is a far more valuable development path than discharging sludge onto farmland.
“EVA 3 completes a journey that began ten years ago and marks HBI’s transition to industrial maturity for this technology,” says Basso. “With this facility, we are fully implementing our platform and beginning the phase of rolling it out to water service providers.”
Policy: Simplify to Speed Things Up
The inauguration was attended by Vannia Gava, Deputy Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, who linked the plant to a broader industrial policy issue: “I was proud to attend the inauguration of EVA3, the first fully industrial-scale implementation of HBI technology: an important step toward urban circular biorefineries. A concrete example of how research, innovation, and the circular economy can drive development by recovering valuable resources, reducing pollutants, and contributing to the availability of critical raw materials.”
She added a more practical recommendation: “As a government, we must continue to support those who believe in and invest in these technologies by streamlining procedures and reducing the time it takes to obtain permits. This is the Italy we want to support: innovative businesses, a focus on local communities, environmental protection, and sustainable development.”
The Context
The timing is no coincidence. MASE is working on a new legislative decree governing sewage sludge, focused on the waste hierarchy and the end-of-waste status for fertiliser production—a regulatory framework the sector has been awaiting for years, given that the current regulations date back to 1992. Furthermore, effective 31 July 2027, it will introduce tertiary treatment to remove PFAS, pharmaceutical residues and microplastics; require energy-self-sufficient facilities; and stipulate that by 2028, the Commission must set a minimum rate for phosphorus recovery from sludge.
Pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies will be required to cover at least 80 per cent of the additional costs of this new treatment—a principle of extended producer responsibility applied for the first time to the water sector.
The HBI process has obtained ETV (Environmental Technology Verification) certification from RINA. In 2024, the company closed a Series A funding round led by CDP Venture Capital through the Green Transition Fund and the Fondo Evoluzione; in 2025, the project for a European industrial ecosystem received the Seal of Excellence from the European Commission.
Cover: photo by Envato